Bluma Zeigarnik: A Missing Name in the History of Psychoanalysis in Soviet Russia?

Abstract

This paper contributes to recent historiographical debates concerning the Soviet era and its ideological impact on Soviet psychology. It brings more nuance to an argument for the presence of engagement with psychoanalysis during the years 1930–80, and focuses on Bluma Zeigarnik’s work during the Soviet period. The article seeks to explore possible encounters between Zeigarnik and psychoanalysis through her collaboration with Alexander Luria and Lev Vygotsky, known to be among those Russian psychologists who were inspired by psychoanalytic studies and developed Freud’s ideas, and aims to bring attention to the fact that Zeigarnik was knowledgeable about Freud’s work and his successors, and that consonance with his ideas can be found throughout her work on schizophrenia and the theory of pathopsychology. The article also outlines the often overlooked ideas Zeigarnik developed in the Soviet period of her career.